Coffer-dam and caisson construction.



. vi J No. 851,532. PATENTED APR. 23, 1907.

G. A. LB PEVRE.

COPPER DAM AND GAISSON CONSTRUCTION. urmouxon manna. 11, 1900.

WITNESSES ATTORNEY GEORGE A. LE FEVRE, OF PIERMONT, NEW YORK.

COFFER-DAIVI AND CAISSON CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 23, 1907.

Application filed April 11 1906- Serial No. 311,190.

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. LE FEvRE,

of Piermont, in the county of Rockland and.

State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Coffer Dam andCaisson Construction, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of apparatus which isused in the sinking of cofferdams, caissons and the building of piers,piles and cement work generally.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple device which can beeasily sunk in sections, which is made up mainly of commercial flat andangle iron, and which has facilities for going accurately and easily toplace.

My invention is also intended to produce, when the parts of thestructure are sunk, a caisson or cofferdam which is braced by aninternal system which prevents collapse or accidents and which leaves alarge central opening for a hoistway and for work generally.

My invention is also intended to produce a structure of this characterwhich can be very easily placed and which can be easily removed as soonas the cement filling is set.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of constructionand combinations of parts which will be hereinafter described andclaimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification in which similar letters and figures of referenceindicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of an open caisson or cofferdamshowing myconstruction; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1 Fig.3 is an enlarged detail view showing a plate-pile portion of theapparatus with attached auxiliary angle-iron share and water supplypipes; Fig. 4 is a detail side elevation showing how two end-abuttingplates may be connected together; Fig. 5 is a plan view of a section ofcofferdam suitable for use in building a sea wall Fig. 6 is a detailplan showing how the endof the sea wall section can be left; and Fig. 7is an enlarged detail plan view of abutting sections of the wall, andshows the guiding means used in driving the plates.

In carrying out my invention I use a series of flat plates 10 preferablyof ordinary commercial iron, and the structure built up can be eitherrectangular as shown, or it can be circular in cross section. In makin arectangular structure, I use iron angle p ates 11 at the corners and theseveral plates are connected together at the edges by iron joint strips12, and to provide for easy connections each plate 10 is slotted nearone edge as shown at 13, and provided with bolt holes 14 at the oppositeedge. The joint strips 12 are fastened to opposite faces of the plate 10at its inner or right-hand edge by bolts passing through the plate holes1 1, and both strips 12 project beyond said inner edge of the plate toform a groove to receive the left-hand outer edge of the plate 10 lastdriven. The lower ends of the strips 12 are inclined or chamfered at 12,and these inclines crowd the point and lower part of the plate 10 beingdriven closely to the left-hand edge of the plate last driven. Thisaction of the inclined joint strip ends 12"-, is supplemented by likebut more powerful action of an inclined angle-iron share 17 which isbolted to the inner face of the plate 10 some distance above its pointor above said ends 12 of the strips 12. To facilitate direct driving orhydraulic sinking of the plates their lower ends may be chamfered orsharpened as shown at'lO in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings. To assist inguiding the descending plates 10, and further to provide for convenientattachment of internal cross-braces hereinafter mentioned, verticallyranging angle-irons 18 are bolted to the inner faces of the plates 10prior to driving or sinking them to form a caisson or dam.

In sinking the plates 10 to form a caisson or coflerdam, a plate guideis employed. This guide is preferably made of metal and mainly in theform of a rectangular open loop having opposite sides spaced apart for adistance exceeding the thickness of the plates 1.0 and their attachedjoint strips 12, share 17, brace-connecting irons 18, and pipes whichmay also be attached as hereinafter described for hydraulically sinkingthe plates. The guide loop has at one end a groove 15*, receiving theouter left-hand edge of the plate 10 being driven, and at the oppositeend of the loop the sides of the guide are contracted at 16 to permitbolting of the guide to the plate 10 last driven.

In Fig. 7 of the drawings, the guide 15 is shown bolted at 16 to theplate 10 last driven, and the plate 10 being driven is shown with itsfixed joint plates 12, 12, embracing the edge of the driven plate whilethe opposite edge of the plate being driven runs in the groove 15 of theguide. As the plate 10 is being driven or sunk, the inclined ends 12 ofits joint strips 12, and more especially the inclined face of the share17, offer resistance to the sand or silt entered by the plate andpowerfully force its entire right-hand edge next the strips 12 overtightly to the lefthand edge of the last driven'plate 10,notwithstanding possible irregular application of the force used indriving or sinking the plate. When the plate is fully down, bolts may beeasily applied at the strips 12 and through the slots 13 of the priordriven plate to secure the last two adjoining driven plates together,whereupon the guide 15 is unfastened and then is fastened to the lastplate just driven to guide the neXt plate to be driven; and so on, forany required number of plates.

After the rectangular structure shown in Figs. 1 and 5 is formed and asit is sunk, angle iron braces 19 may be extended across the caisson orcofferdam and bolted to the angles 18 and by using longer and shorterbraces as desired the hoistway 20 can be formed which will be Tree andclear. This arrangement is much safer than it is to use timbers as generally employed, because the braces cannot slip and moreover they take uplittle room and can be easily removed. Also the braces act to preventthe wall of the structure from expanding as well as collapsing. Further,as the structure is sunk the lower braces can be used to carry ballastand the ballast can also be loaded on higher up if need be. Thearrangement likewise provides for an easy and safe filling of thecaisson and the successive braces can be taken away as the cement riseswithout any danger to the structure and by taking out the bolts from thestrips 12, the plates 10 with attached parts 17, 18, are left free andcan be easily removed. The plates, besides being driven can be easilysunk by means of water jets and to this end a plate 10 can have, on theoutside, a water pipe 21, which is held in a keeper 22 and has branchpipes 22 extending through keepers 23 to points near the lower edge oftheplate. The water is forced through the pipe and branch pipe underpressure and it removes the silt, sand, dirt, etc. and permits the plateto readily sink to place. If the plates are to be driven to considerabledepth they can be arranged vertically one above the other and with theirends abutting, as in Fig. 4C, and where this is done, the adjacentplates can be provided with dovetail slots or key ways 24 to receivedovetail keys 25, and these parts can be covered by plates 26 to preventleakage after said face-plates 26 are bolted to opposite ends of thekeys and to the two endabutting plates 10, 10. Another object of thisdouble-dovetail plate joint is to enable the lower plate or plates to beraised when a lifting strain is applied to the plate above.

Instead of using the angles 11, the flat plates can be used and if thestrips 12 are slightly curved, the structure can be made circular incross section instead of rectangular.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown the structure as adapted to form a seawall and where this is done the end plates can be left of theconformation shown at the right-hand in Fig. 6, and then when the workis continued the new wall will dovetail ormatch into the old. Thisstructure also provides for sand or paper joints to be left between theseveral sections to provide for longitudinal expansion of the wall.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that I thus provide avery simple and efficient means of performing sub foundation work or subaqueous work and that the plates forming the main portion of thestructure can be easily removed after the cofferdam or caisson isfilled.

WVhere the structure is provided with water pipe or pipes as shown inFig. 3 and the hard pan or hard bottom is irregular, cement can bepumped through the pipe 21 when the bottom is reached, and the cementwill fill in the inequalities at the bottom of the structure and will,as soon as it sets, effectively prevent leakage around the bottom.

In the description where I have referred to bolts I wish it understoodthat I would generally use stud bolts and that instead of having them gothrough to the outside and have nuts on them, the outer plates will betapped so that the bolts are passed through the inner joint strips 12and the slots and holes 13, 14 of the plates 10, 11, or through theangleirons 18, and are screwed into tapped holes in the outer strips 12,or in the plates 10, 11, and do not project beyond said strips orplates. This leaves the outer surface of the caisson 0r dam unobstructedby projecting boltheads or ends.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent,

1. A structure such as described, comprising a series of plates, ointstrips fixed to opposite faces of the plates at one edge thereof andadapted to overlap the meeting edge of the last driven plate, and aninclined sharelike structure fastened to each plate at a distance fromits point and adapted to edgewise force the plate being driven againstthe plate last driven.

2. A structure such as described, comprising a series of plates, jointstrips having laterally inclined forward ends and fixed to oppositefaces of the plates at one edge thereof and adapted to overlap themeeting edge of the plate last driven, and an inclined share fastened toeach plate at a distance from its point and co-operating with theinclined ends of the joint strips to edgewise force the plate beingdriven against the plate last driven.

3. In a structure such as described, the combination with a plateadapted to be sunk into the earth, of an inclined angle-iron share fixedto the plate at a distance from its point.

4. A structure such as described for caissons or cofl'erdams, comprisinga series of flat plates and angle plates forming the sides and cornersof the structure, overlapping joint. strips fixed to the faces of theplates to cover the oints, and cross-braces inside the structure.

5. A structure such as described for caissons or co'l'l erdams, coinarising a series of flat plates and angle plates orining the sides andcorners of the structure, overlapping joint strips fixed to the faces ofthe plates to cover the joints, angle-iron supports fastened verticallyto the inner sides of the plates, and cross-braces fixed to saidangle-iron supports.

6. A caisson wall plate having j oint-lap ping strips fixed to itsopposite faces at one edge and having vertical bolt receiving slots atits opposite edge.

7. A caisson Wall plate having joint-lapping strips 12 made Withinclined ends 12' i and fnxed to its opposite faces at one edge, an

adjacent inclined share 17 fixed to the plate at some distance from itspoint, and a vertical brace-supporting angle-iron 1S fixed to the innerface of the plate.

S. A caisson Wall plate having joint-lapping strips 12 fixed to itsopposite faces at one edge, an adjacent inclined share 17 lixed to theplate at some distance from its point, and attached fluid supply pipes.

9. A caisson wall plate having joint-lapping strips 12 provided withinclined ends 12, and fixed to its opposite faces at one edge, anadjacent inclined share 17 i'med to the plate at some distance from itspoint, and attached fluid supply pipes.

10. In a structure such as described, the combination with a wall plate,of a guide in the form of an open loop having one end reduced forattachment to a driven plate and having a groove at its other end toreceive and guide the outer edge of an adjacent plate to be driven.

11. In a structure such as described, the combination with a drivencaisson wall plate and an adjacent undriven plate having lined jointstrips projecting at its inner edge to overlap the driven plate, of aguide in the form of an open loop having one end reduced for attachmentto the driven. plate and having a groove at its other end receiving theouter edge of the plate being driven While the inner edge of said plateis guided on the prior driven plate by the oint strips.

GEORGE A. LE FEVHF.

\Vitnesses:

\VARREN B. HUTonrNsoN, J. C. BAUTA.

